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| Eastern Prickly Gooseberry Ribes cynosbati |
Why is the berry of this plant prickly? Someone presented that question and at first the answer seems obvious; protection. But why protect a berry? The whole point of a sweet, juicy, yummy berry is for it to be eaten by a mobile animal who would then poop out the seeds somewhere else; seed dispersal! So, if anyone has a theory, I would like to hear it.
An easy way to identify this species versus other species in Indiana is in fact that the berries are prickly. Also, the leaves have an indented, heart-shaped base.
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| This is the only species of Gooseberry with prickly berries |
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| Note the heart-shaped base of the leaves |
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| Some stems have a tremendous numbers of prickers |
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| Some stems only have two prickers at the base of the buds |
maybe it wants to be eaten by something that wouldn't be bothered by the prickles...some bird like dino w/a hard beak?
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea ... selective for the critter than can best distribute the seeds.
ReplyDelete